


Smile

by KnifeofIce



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2088453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnifeofIce/pseuds/KnifeofIce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Done for #oofuri_69min on twitter. Prompt was "selfie"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

“Smile!”

A bright flash went off in Hanai’s eyes as he turned towards Tajima’s voice. A hand flew up far too late in an attempt to shield his eyes. Stars blinked, blocking his vision when he opened his eyes.

“Give me more warning next time!” he scolded. Tajima was hardly paying attention though, looking down at his phone and playing around with it. He frowned.

“You’re too tall,” he stated matter-of-factly, brandishing the phone with a full screen picture. Hanai took a look and sure enough, he could only see half of his eyes but the rest of his confused face. Tajima was front and center, flashing a grin and holding up a “V” with his free hand. Hanai shook his head as he finished tying up his cleat and put his cap on.

“Delete that. C’mon, we should start warming up before Coach gets here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, there’s no really good translation for this, but the best way to say it is—“

Hanai never finished that sentence as he felt a heaviness suddenly bear down across his shoulders and pull him towards the source of it. Another bright flash.

“Tajima! If you want a pitcher for next week, let me help him through an English quiz!” he snapped, irate. But Tajima was already showing Mihashi the picture he had snapped.

“Even sitting down, you’re too tall!”

“Gimme that.” The Captain snatched the phone and looked down at it. The picture focused mostly on Tajima and Mihashi, who looked just as surprised as Hanai did—though the right half of his face was cut off.

Rolling his eyes, he tossed the phone back. “You have work to do too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside, as the sky turned orange and yellow with the setting sun, the bitter wind blew threw them making them both shiver. Hanai didn’t understand why Tajima was walking so far with him—he only lived a couple of minutes away after all.

He couldn’t believe they were nearing the end of their first year of high school already. It had been a fun year with the team and they still had two years together—two years for all of them to grow and develop and learn. The huge advantage to their team was that they didn’t have to get used to each other all over again every year like other clubs—they all had a solid idea how the others played. New first years would come in but they would have senpais—much different than how they stumbled through. It felt good to get the program off to a solid start. He hoped Nishiura High School would have a baseball club for many years to come.

“Hey, bend down a bit!” Tajima’s voice broke him out of his ponderings. The shorter boy grabbed Hanai (as best as he could) around the shoulders and pulled him down a few inches. A cell phone screen appeared in front of him and made an artificial “click” sound. Both of them were huddled together over the screen. It was a lot warmer like this.

Well, at least Hanai was entirely in this picture.

“Next time, smile!” Tajima demanded, pouting a bit.

“If you gave me more than a couple of seconds of warning, maybe I would!”

“Really?”

Hanai thought about it for a second. “Maybe.”

“That’s not a real answer!”

They stayed in contact with each other for warmth until they realized they were halfway to Hanai’s house. They parted ways and the taller boy thought he saw a bigger frown form on the other’s face as he turned to go home. Tajima must prefer their body heat to the freezing gusts, Hanai reasoned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The roar from the crowd was incredible. His teammates (new first years included) all gathered around the plate as he stepped on home. Hands came down from everywhere to hit his helmet, everyone congratulating him on his first homerun of the year—in a summer tournament game, no less. Hanai was walking on cloud nine as he and the rest of his teammates returned to the dugout.

As he basked in the praise, Tajima came over, face oddly serious, arms crossed over his chest.

“I told you this once before—‘Don’t be satisfied’.”

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, Hanai unsure how to react, frozen in the middle of placing his batting helmet back on the rack. Then, the third baseman cracked and his usual smile formed.

“That was a _bomb_! You’re gonna have to tell me what kind of pitch it was later!”

Truth be told, Hanai was more of a reactive hitter, not so much one to analyze a pitch. If it was in the strike zone, he swung at it, not paying particular attention to the trajectory from the pitcher’s hand so much or the spin. He shifted uncomfortably.

“Uh…sure.”

“Let’s take a picture! Here,” Tajima moved closer, cell phone in hand. Hanai was getting taller, but Tajima seemed to grow a bit too. The height difference wasn’t nearly as large as when they first met the year before. Hanai hesitantly wrapped his arm around the other’s shoulders, ignoring the quickening of his heart. Just adrenaline.

They would have both smiled if Coach Momoe hadn’t scolded them the exact second the picture was snapped. Tajima had put the phone away immediately, but after the game, they both laughed at their horrified faces. This time, Hanai didn’t tell Tajima to delete it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His limbs felt weak. The sun was strong overhead. He was sure he spent the last of his energy aggressively, loudly thanking the umpires and the other team for the well-played game. He was the captain after all. He had to keep everyone’s spirits up and represent Nishiura proudly. He made his way to the corner of the bench, hidden away in the shade and bent over, huddled, pulling his cap down over his face to hide the tears that leaked from his eyes.

So close. They had come so close to Koushien. One more round and they would have been off to Hyougo prefecture to fight their way to the top. Knowing they came so close to their goal of the past three years only to fall just short seemed to make it that much more painful.

He was proud of his team and the effort they put in. The first and second years dedicated themselves to helping the third years get as far as they did, and for that he was grateful. But now…

His time with the original ten Nishiura players was over. That was the part he thinks that hurt the most. After this, it was college applications (well, for most of them anyway) and then splitting ways. But there was one person he didn’t think he could stand being separated from.

Hanai became acutely aware of someone entering his personal bubble. A figure appeared below his brim, kneeling in front of him. Surprised, he looked up slightly. Tajima sat there and before he could say anything, Tajima’s forehead pressed against his own, dislodging the cap from Hanai’s head. He felt a hand on the back of his neck and another lace its fingers into his.

“Good work, Captain,” he muttered thickly, smallest of smiles on his face.

Everyone else was busy comforting each other, the two of them alone. Hanai pulled away a little bit, to take a look at the other’s face. He could see where tears had trailed through the dust and dirt on Tajima’s cheeks. He was sure everyone else’s face, including his, looked the same.

He squeezed the other’s hand and laughed lightly as a couple more tears leaked out. He used his other arm to briskly wiped them away.

“Sorry I couldn’t lead us to Koushien. Though I don’t think that’ll hurt your prospects.”

Now Tajima laughed. “I still wanted to get as far as we could with everyone. It’s really over for us now, huh?”

Well that sounded more loaded than it should have. Hanai shook his head and ignored any other meaning. “Not for you, anyway.”

He had no doubt in his mind that the team would always keep in touch, no matter where they were, but things would never be the same. No more running until they collapsed from exhaustion, or group study sessions, or pigging out after an all-day session at training camp.

“I want to take a picture.”

“Why…?”

“Just to remember.”

Hanai hesitated, then nodded slowly. With a quick squeeze of Hanai’s hand, Tajima let go, and grabbed his cell phone from his bag. He sat on the bench next to the taller boy and shuffled in close, hips and shoulders touching. Tajima held the phone up, Hanai placing a hand at the small of the other’s back and leaning in close. Both of them smiled and held up a “V” as the picture was snapped. They took a look at it and started to laugh. Huge grins with tearstained cheeks.

Hanai stood up. “Let’s go ‘Tajima-senpai’. We have to get ready to go on the bus.” He walked off to gather his heartbroken teammates, doing his best to clear his own face and nose in the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cherry blossoms blew through the air and Hanai could feel a tugging in his chest. The graduation ceremony was over and he was an official high school graduate. It was surreal that he wouldn’t be returning to the halls of Nishiura in the next couple of days. More surreal that he wouldn’t have his teammates around to be bothered by.

“Oi! Azusa!”

He stopped walking and turned to see Tajima running towards him, something tucked under his arm, tie already untied and jacket wide open. Bending over to catch his breath, Tajima pulled what appeared to be a book from under his arm and shoved it in Hanai’s direction. Confused, he took it and opened it, no marking on the outside indicating what it was.

“It’s a…collection…from the last three years,” he managed to gasp out, straightening up, a mere 8 cm shorter than Hanai.

Inside were various pictures of him and Tajima. After flipping through the pages, the last one held the picture from their last game together. It was the only one in the bunch where they were both smiling and fully in the frame. Funny, considering how obvious it was that they had both been crying.

A fluttery feeling began in his stomach and soon traveled to his chest. It turned into an ache.

“Yuu…thanks,” was all that Hanai could manage to get out, touched by the gesture.

“Yeah I think in the U.S., they’re calling this type of picture a ‘selfie’ or something like that,” Tajima said, showing off his rudimentary English skills. “Ah, wait there’s one more thing I wanted to add to this.”

Hanai looked over, confused, at the other as he fumbled in his pocket to pull out his phone and hold it up.

“One from graduation day!”

Of course, he thought to himself, smiling and giving his permission with a nod. At least they would finally have one together where they were smiling and _not_ right after crying.

Hanai slipped his hand around the other’s waist as Tajima used his free arm to snake around Hanai’s shoulders, positioning the phone in front of them. And Hanai smiled. But a warm pressure on his cheek made his eyes widen and cheeks flush as the flash went off. He whipped around to look at the other, who was grinning ear to ear, holding up the phone. Captured was the exact moment Hanai turned red after Tajima planted a kiss on his cheek.

“I’m printing this one out and bringing it with me when we travel,” Tajima said proudly, cackling as he made sure to hold the phone with both hands—he was never letting Hanai delete this one.

“Yuu…!” he growled lowly, snatching at the phone, knowing he wouldn’t get it anyway. Tajima dodged out of the way, now laughing.

“Congratulations on graduating, Azusa!” he said with another peck on the check.

And even though Hanai was starting university and Tajima was getting ready to go to a pro training camp, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind their relationship would be okay in the long run.

But he had a sinking feeling he would never be able to get rid of that “selfie”.


End file.
